Kendall and Yuma's Excellent Adventure
by dontcryMasha
Summary: The boys decide it's high time for apartment 2J to find the perfect pet. What they don't realize is that the perfect pets are about to find –them-, giving them a wild ride they will never forget. Mild language, violence. A bit of Kames.
1. Destiny

"I think that a little cat would be perfect," says Logan.

"Nu uh!" Carlos interrupts. "We need something cool, like an iguana or a big parrot!"

"What about a dog?" James suggests. "A husky or something. They're fun."

Then, a different voice joins the conversation. "And _what _may I ask are you guys talking about?" It's Kendall. He walks into Logan and Carlos' room with his hands on his hips. The three boys turn to face him and say, "pets!"

"Pets?" Kendall verifies.

"Yeah, pets!" Carlos yells, grinning.

"We can't get a pet."

James and Carlos cry out. "Why not?" they whine.

"It's too much work! What are we going to do when we're touring? Expect my mom to take care of it?"

"Duuhh," James rolls his pretty hazel eyes and Kendall with a frown.

"That's why we should get a cat," Logan insists. Now he stands up and makes an intelligent face. "They don't need much work. We can even leave an automatic feeder for him when we go away. All Mama Knight needs to do is scoop the poop."

"Yeah but cats are YAWN!" James yells. "We can get a dog, and the dog can just come _with _us."

"OR AN IGUANA BECAUSE THEY ARE RAD!" Carlos screams even louder.

"Guys! Shut up!" Kendall barks. "We aren't getting a pet! Just shut up! Drop it! Oh my GOD!" His raises his hands over his head and runs out of the room. Sometimes it's hard to believe that they are his friends. A pet? Really? They can't even take care of themselves, let alone another animal. A cat might be cool, though. _Nah_, Kendall thinks. _Still too much work_.

He needs to get some air so he makes his way to the lobby. Hopefully, by the time he gets back they boys will be over their stupid discussion. The elevator doors open and Kendall runs into Camille.

"Hey," he says.

"Hi Kendall. How are you?" Camille asks with a pretty smile. Kendall gets in the elevator and sighs hilariously loud.

"Stupid!" he shouts.

"What happened?"

"Those moronic friends of mine think we need a pet."

Camille immediately bursts into laughter. "Really? The boys? And a pet? _Really_?"

"Yeah, exactly how I feel," Kendall says. He folds his arms and sighs. The elevator stops at the lobby and the doors open up.

"Well," Camille says between giggles. "Good luck with _that!_"

"Thanks…" Kendall's voice trails off as Camille walks away. He puts his hands in his pockets and walks out of the Palm Woods. At least the weather is nice, but when is it not? He begins to wander down the street. As he walks, he notices an awful lot of people walking dogs. _See? _Kendall thinks to himself. _You need to walk them. I can just see it now_…

Kendall imagines a dog tearing up the apartment and his mother screaming about it. "You guys need to walk this dog NOW!" she screams. James and Carlos try to put a harness on the dog, but it's wiggling about so much that they end up putting the harness on themselves. Then Logan tries to come up with some ridiculous scientific method to controlling the dog's behavior, which ultimately backfires and causes even more chaos. Kendall can't help but laugh at how predictable the boys are. Is he that easy, too?

The blond boy rounds a corner and suddenly hears an awful lot of noise from an alleyway. Curious but guarded, he looks down the stone corridor. All he sees is a couple garbage cans, overflowing with waste that smells less than pleasant. Just as he begins to think nothing of it, there's that noise again! It's a metallic _clonk _followed by a great rustling, almost as if someone is sifting through the garbage. Is it a homeless person? Before Kendall completely walks away, he considers that it might be someone in trouble. Being the nice guy that he ultimately is, he takes a few steps back and heads down the alleyway. The rustling continues and he follows is carefully. It seems to be coming from behind one trash can. There's no way that it's a person, they couldn't fit back there. Kendall thinks maybe it's a rat. In that case, he would make himself a real fool, putting himself in danger just because he thinks a rat is a person in trouble.

Before he can get much further, he seems something small and pink move from behind the can. He can't quite tell what that is, but it is certainly alive. Kendall squats down and doesn't move at all for a moment. He doesn't want to scare whatever it may be. Now the creature backs out a little more and he can tell that it's the butt. It has a tail. A little tiny, pink tail and a little tiny, pink body.

_Oh_, Kendall realizes all at once. _That's a pig!_

He doesn't know if they bite when provoked or not, so he picks up a coat hanger on the ground and slowly extends it towards the pig's butt. He taps it real gently, and all of the sudden it begins to squeal. It squeal and squeals, knocks over the garbage can and backs out of the space it way. It tries to run away, but the poor thing has the cardboard can of peanuts stuck on its head!

"Hey, wait!" Kendall yells. The pig is trapped. Acting quickly, he grabs around its sides and tries to pick it up. It's just a little thing, really! Like a small dog. It must be very, very young. As it squirms about in his hands, he clasps his fingers around the can and struggles to pull it off. With just a little more effort, it goes flying from his hand and the pig's face. All at once, the pig stops. It looks at Kendall way too intelligently and even appears to smile.

"Uh, hi," Kendall mumbles. The pig has an adorable brown spot on its nose. It pushes against Kendall's hand.

"Hi!" the pig says.

"Wait. WAIT!" Kendall doesn't believe it. He almost drops the pig but stops himself in time. "You didn't just talk to me."

"I did!"

"I'm going crazy."

"No, you aren't."

"Yeah, yeah I am." Kendall sets the pig down and gets up.

"Wait!" the pig calls out. "Don't go!"

"No, I'm going." He begins to walk away, but the little pig follows him, oinking.

"Don't goooo!" it calls out. "You saved me!"

"I know. But I don't think you're even real, so stop. I'm leaving. Byeee!"

"NO! Stop! Kendall, no!"

Kendall freezes in his tracks. He turns around real slow and glares down at the pig, who is not sitting and looking up at him with a smile. "How do you know my name?" he asks.

"Because it's destiny!" the pig cheers. "Destiny that I found you! I was waiting just for you, Kendall."

"This is

He feels self- stupid. I'm not a magical girl in an anime, okay? You're freaking me out."

"Stop! Kendall! Nooooo!" the pig runs up to Kendall's feet and nuzzles around his ankle. "We need to be best friends."

"Why?" Kendall asks.

"Because I told you already; _destiny_."

"Stop. Bye." Kendall shuffles the pig off of his feet and he walks away briskly. Now he starts to worry that he's going completely insane. What could cause this madness? He wasn't on any drugs. He doesn't like alcohol. Maybe lead poisoning? Was the Palm Woods an asbestos hotspot? This is too crazy, definitely. But as Kendall makes it back to this apartment building, he turns around and sees the pig is gone. _Good_, he thinks. _Hopefully that thing will be gone forever now, before the guys see me talking to myself_.

conscious as he walks back into the Palm Woods. Nobody saw him talking to the imaginary pig, but he worries that somehow, somebody knows. He clears his throat and goes back to the elevator. The doors open up before he gets there and Buddha Bob comes out, talking to Bitters.

"I think I'll find it soon," Buddha Bob says.

"Excellent," Bitters giggles, rubbing his sausage-like fingers together. "It's been going on too long. The guests are starting to complain."

"Okay, well I got the traps up and I have a good feeling about it."

"Don't screw it up!" Bitters hollers before shuffling off to his usual roost.

Kendall stops Buddha Bob before he can get much further. "Oh uh, hey Kendall," the janitor says.

"What were you talking about?" Kendall asks.

"Uhhh, I can't _really _talk about it."

"Oh come on, you can tell me."

"Uhhhh, well, okay, see, uhhh, there's this _little _pest problem here," Buddha Bob's voice becomes very quiet. Well, quiet for Buddha Bob. "A _piglet _is getting into people's trash and stuff and causing all sorts of problems. So Bitters wants me to get rid of it. Sooooo don't tell anybody, 'cause I'd get in trouble, since he told me not to tell anybody. You know, reputation and stuff."

"Oh, okay. I see." Kendall's eyes widen. "What do you mean but 'get rid of it'?"

"Make it disappear!" Buddha Bob says. "Just like the rats. Which we uh, have none of, definitely. Right. GOTTA GO!" he runs off quickly, leaving Kendall with a sinking feeling in his stomach. There's no way the pig he saw wasn't related to the one Buddha Bob was looking for. Coincidences like that simply do not happen. Kendall couldn't let the piglet be exterminated. Grumbling, he turns around and goes back out the front door of the Palm Woods. He retraces his steps back to the alley where he found the pig.

"Yooo!" he calls out. "Piglet?"

There's a shuffling, rustling and squoink, and then the fuzzy little piggy comes out from behind one of the garbage cans. "Kendall!" it yells. "You came back for me!"

"Listen," Kendall explains, squatting down. "The people at my apartment building are looking for you. They want to kill you because you're a 'pest.' So come back with me."

"Hooray!" the pigs cheers. It jumps into Kendall's arms as if they were long lost pals. Kendall notices there is a collar around the pig's neck; it's very thin and also pink. Hanging from it is a small tag which reads, **YUMA**.

"Yuma? Is that your name?" Kendall asks.

"Yup!"

"Are you a boy or a girl?"

"I'm a girl!"

"Oh, okay Yuma." Kendall carries her in his arms back to the Palm Woods. "Now I have to hide you under my shirt, so don't say anything or move at all, okay?"

"Got it!" Yuma doesn't fight as Kendall hides her away under his clothes. She listens very well and stays completely still. Careful yet cool, Kendall walks back inside the Palm Woods and saunters up to the elevator. He clicks the up button and gets inside when the doors open.

"You're doing great," he whispers to Yuma, alone in the elevator.

"Hooray!" Yuma says.

"Ssshh!"

"Sorry," the pig whispers.

The doors open up and he carries Yuma out and down the hall. He slips into 2J and tries to avoid contact with everyone. Kendall walks to his bedroom door but suddenly remembers that he shares a room with James. _Shit_. He goes in anyway, and James luckily isn't there.

"Now Yuma," Kendall whispers very quietly. He places the pig down on the ground. "You'll have to stay in here, but you need to keep _very, very _quiet, okay? What do you like to eat?"

"Anything," Yuma says. She tiptoes over to Kendall's bed and nestles beneath a pile of dirty laundry.

"Okay, I'll be right back."

Kendall gets up and goes into the kitchen. He still hasn't seen anybody. So what does a pig like? Anything, really? He tosses together some cereal and salad, thinking that might work, into a bowl and brings it to Yuma along with a tiny saucer of water.

"How's this?" Kendall whispers.

"Yay!" Yuma shouts. She runs out and starts to eat and eat. Her eyes bend into a happy smile. Kendall can't help but feel a little warm inside.

"I'm going to post ads on the internet looking for your owner," he says. "If you have a tag, you must have an owner."

"Nope."

"Okay, well whatever. You must. So I will. But until then, you can stay here and I promise you'll be safe, as long as you're quiet."

The bedroom door opens suddenly and James comes in. He slams to door shut. There's something in his arms. Kendall immediately freaks out and throws a t-shirt over Yuma, but James seems distracted anyway.

"You okay?" Kendall asks. James shakes his head.

"Dude," the brunette says. He opens his arms and shows Kendall a little puppy. "Don't tell the guys!"


	2. Foxy!

"Ummmm, what is that?" Kendall asks, pointing to the young pup. Yuma is being good and not making a single peep.

James inhales real deep before speaking. "I went downstairs and saw a bunch of people kicking this puppy around and so I jumped in and grabbed him but when I picked him up he knew my name and I figured we needed to be together and I saved his life and we are just like best friends now and don't tell Mama Knight or anybody 'cause I dunno how they feel about pets actually thanks." James runs out of breath completely and almost passes out.

"Wait," Kendall says. "He knows your name?"

"Uhh…haa…uhhh…ha…yes," James pants. He holds the puppy with both hands and shoves him in Kendall's face. "This is…haaa…Fox!"

"Hi," Kendall says.

"Hi!" Fox replies cheerfully. He reaches his fluffy neck out to Kendall and licks him gently on the nose. At this moment, Yuma crawls out from Kendall's laundry and looks up. "Fox?" she asks.

"Yuma, no!" Kendall shouts, but it's too late.

"YUMA!" Fox cheers. He jumps out of James' grip and lands perfectly on the floor. He sprints to the piglet and begins licking her face. "I found you!"

"Where did the pig come from, dude?" James asks.

"I uh, found her."

"She talks too?"

"Obviously, yes. She is talking, right?"

"Oh, yeah." James looks down at the animals on the floor. They seem to be delighted to see each other. "How do you know the pig?" James asks.

"We're friends," Fox explains quickly.

"Wait," says Kendall. He crouches next to the pets. "You mean that we both found talking animals that know each other?"

"Yep!" Fox and Yuma say at the same time. A green glow grows on the end of Yuma's nose as she becomes happier.

"Woah! What is that?" Kendall shouts, but the light stops immediately. "Noooothing," Yuma says.

"So how are you friends?" James asks.

"We're on a journey together," says Fox. "But it's sort of a secret. But I hope you can help us."

"How can we help if we don't know what it is?" asks Kendall.

The puppy trots around the bedroom floor with a sassy smile somehow on his face. "Hmmm you can," he says.

"We'll help you," Kendall says. "But you have to stay quiet, okay?"

"Promise!" Yuma and Fox cheer at the same time.

So the animals hunker down in the boys' bedroom for the rest of the day. James and Kendall scramble to sneak some kind of food for them without anybody noticing, and for the first day it goes fine. When the evening rolls around, Yuma snuggles up to Kendall and Fox curls up on James's pillow.

"You're a really good owner, Kendall," Yuma whispers.

"It's only been a few hours," Kendall says. He looks at the piglet with one eye and sees her staring back at him. She blinds slowly, falling asleep, and Kendall can't help but smile. James on the other hand is already snoring with his legs and arms spread out all over the bed. Fox is doing the same.

Morning eventually catches up to them, and Kendall is awoken by a weird noise. It's a sort of sparkly, shifting sound. Kendall sits up in bed and looks around. James is still fast asleep, now curled up around the puppy, but Yuma is not anywhere visible.

"_Yuma!_" Kendall whispers, looking around. He puts his feet on the ground and seeks her out from the bed. He can still hear that funny noise, and it's coming from a far corner. He gets up and steps over to that direction. A soft, green light is glowing and Yuma appears to be digging or something.

"_Yuma! What are you doing?_" Kendall whispers, creeping up to the piglet closely. She jumps and turns around. "Nothing!" she answers very quickly. The glowing begins to fade.

"What are you doing?" Kendall asks again, positive that it isn't "nothing." He peers over the pig and sees something weedlike. "What is that?"

"Nothing!" Yuma insists. Kendall realizes this is going nowhere, so he grabs Yuma and lifts her into the air. In the corner along the floor, there are a few tendrils of ivy growing.

"What did you do?" Kendall asks sharply.

"Ummmmm!" Yuma squirms in his hands but refuses to answer. Kendall sets her down, mystified by the plant matter. He gets on his hands and knees and peers real close to the ivy with one finger stuck out in front. He touches one of the leaves, sort of a way to mentally confirm it's really there.

"What the hell is this?" Kendall asks. His mind is blown. Yuma seems to be magical in all sorts of ways.

"Kendall, can I tell you a secret?" Yuma whispers.

"Yeah, you better."

"I can grow plants and stuff."

"That's what it looks like, huh?" Kendall pokes the ivy in the corner. It's attached to the floorboards quite well. "Pretty cool."

"Thank you!" Yuma chirps. She wiggles about happily and toddles off towards James's bed. "Wake up, Fox!"

"Wait, sssh!" Kendall hisses. He scrambles to his feet and slides over to where Yuma is now. She picks up her front feet and stamps on the ground. "Stop it!" Kendall says. "I said you have to be quiet!"

"But I need Fox to wake up," says Yuma.

Now James and Fox have heard the two of them chatting and they start to awaken. Fox gets up on his paws and stretches. James yawns. "What's all that noise?" he mumbles. Fox leaps up on his face and starts to lick it. "Auggghh, Fox? Fox, what are you doing?" The puppy makes a cute noise.

"Fox!" Yuma yells from the ground. "I figured it out!"

Fox runs over to the side of the bed, leaving James groggy and slobbered on, and looks down at the piglet. "Oh yeah?"

"Yeah! And Kendall and James will help. Right? Right?"

"Well wait; help with what?" Kendall asks.

"Our…things we have to do," Yuma says quickly. She steps to Kendall and pokes at his ankle with her nose. "Can you take us around?"

"Around where?"

"Around, around!" Yuma and Fox say at the same time. Well, it seems they have no other choice. "Okay," Kendall agrees. "James, get up."

"I _am _up," James groans. He sits in bed and looks at the animals on the floor. "Where are we going?"

"'Around-around'" Kendall says, rolling his eyes and making quotation marks with his fingers. Yuma smiles like she thought of a brilliant plan.

So the boys have to get these animals outside, but nobody can see them. Yuma is fine going inside the bottom of backpack, but Fox complains and complains. "I'm not going in a bag!" he yips.

"But you have to, little man," James coaxes. He pets Fox on the head lovingly, but the puppy remains stiff. "Just put me in your arms and cover me with a shirt or something. Doesn't that work?"

Kendall glares at James because that's too risky. Yuma is already on his back keeping quiet. It seems Fox is as big of a sissy and crybaby as James. They are perfect for each other.

"We can do that," James says. Fox makes a tiny bark of happiness and leaps up into his apparent owner's arms. James grabs a jacket and rolls it over the dog.

"That's not, ugh, you know? Never mind," Kendall shrugs and leaves the bedroom with the backpack, James and Fox following closely behind. As they make their way into the living room, Logan stops them. "What were you guys talking about?" he asks. Kendall and James shoot each other a scared look.

"Noooothing," James says, sounding way more suspicious than he should. Logan rolls his eyes. "I thought I heard some strange noises. You don't anything hiding in your room, right?"

"No of course not. I would tell you that, duh," Kendall says. He holds onto the backpack straps a little tighter.

"O-okay, it just seemed…weird. But, okay!" Logan smiles, flashing his cute dimples, and walks off to the kitchen. Seeing him grab a box of cereal from a cabinet reminds James.

"Ooo!" he shouts. We still haven't eaten. Aren't you hungry, Fox?

"Shit!" Kendall squeaks. He hit James in the arm, but it's too late. Fox stupidly sticks his head out from the jacket and goes, "Yeah! I'm super hungry!"

Logan turns around real slow, wide eyed, staring at the boys. "Where did you get that?" he asks, pointing at the dog. "We didn't agree on any pets!"

James clings to Fox. "Um! Um! I found him! And I'm…um!"

"I'm not _mad_," Logan explains. He sets the cereal down and comes back towards the taller boys, arms folded. "But you could've told us. Does Mama Knight know?" James and Kendall shake their heads.

"We're on a mission!" Fox suddenly hollers. James winces, but Logan looks at the dog and smiles. "Awwww!" the shorter boy coos. "He's so cute!"

"Ohhh?" Kendall asks. He wonders if Logan could hear him talking. "Just cute? Nothing…unusual?"

Logan looks up at Kendall and raises an eyebrow. He makes a tired-like face. "Yeah," nodding a little, he pets Fox on the head. "Just cute."

"Mmm, his hands feel good!" Fox says, nuzzling Logan's fingers.

"So we were just going to take him to a few places to look around," Kendall says. "Just gonna borrow the car real quick." He walks over to the kitchen counter and goes to grab his mother's car keys, but before he can snatch them, she comes in like a hawk.

"Where are you going?" Mama Knight asks sternly. James covers Fox with the jacket again real quick.

"Just gotta run some errands," Kendall answers. "We'll be back soon."

"How far are you going? You know I need to be careful with gas."

"Yeah, n-not far," Kendall explains. He picks the keys up cautiously. "Is that okay? James is coming with me."

Mrs. Knight sighs. "Yes, it's fine," she says, almost as if she doesn't want to agree but knows it's the right thing. "Just make sure you have your driver's license with you."

"Right! Of course. My driver's license." Kendall reaches into his pocket and brandishes his wallet. He flops it open but… "Where is it?!"

"You lost it?" James asks.

"You _lost _it?" Mama Knight asks, much louder and angrier than James.

"What the heck? How did I lose it?"

"Well then you can't go, sorry," his mom says. He pulls the keys out of his hands and puts them back on the counter.

"Awwww, but!" James whines.

"We'll just have to walk. Or take a bus or something," Kendall says, but James keeps complaining. "I don't wanna walk, that's lame!"

"It's fine, it's fine." Now Kendall is a little concerned. He can't think of any place where the license might be. He starts to look around the counters and tables, his heavy eyebrows in a twist from this.

"We need to go, man," James complains.

"Yeah, yeah. But where the hell is it?" Kendall asks, sweeping the coffee table by the sofa. He gets on his hands and knees and peers underneath it, but still finds nothing. "This is weird."

"_We need to go, man_," James hisses. He points to the pile in his hands. "We need to _gooooooooo_."

"Oh, right," Kendall says. He gets to his feet and leads the way out of the apartment. They go down to the lobby and very carefully walk passed Bitters' desk. The last thing they need is to have him find them with the pig, or any pet for that matter. He's on the phone.

"Well ma'am I'm not sure," he says into the receiver. James and Kendall slow down to listen. "But if we see the dog again, we'll _certainly _call animal control…oh, no, well, it can't belong to anybody…if anyone is keeping an animal in the Palm Woods, they'll be evicted immediately."

James and Kendall exchange a grimace. This whole time they were thinking about getting a pet, they _totally _forgot about the zero tolerance policy that Bitters has. James holds Fox tighter as they slip out of the lobby.


	3. Safe Cave?

As soon as they are far enough away from the Palm Woods, Kendall takes Yuma out of his backpack and sets her down on the ground. Fox jumps from James's arms and pees in the grass along the sidewalk.

"So like, where are we going?" Kendall asks Yuma.

"I'm trying to find where I left my safe cave."

"Safe…cave?"

"Yeah my safe cave," Yuma says as if everyone should understand her. "Fox, do you know where yours is?"

"Uh huh."

"You do?!" Yuma glares at the puppy and runs over to him. Kendall and James stand around awkwardly, pretty lost.

"Yeah duh. You lost yours?" Fox asks.

"I don't remember, that's the problem!" Yuma whines. "We need to go to yours. Is it close?"

"Yup." Fox looks up at James. "Can you come with us?"

"Like we have any other choice," Kendall groans.

"What? I wanna see Fox's safe cave," James says. "Let's go. Where is it, Fox?"

"Follow me!"

The puppy heads off down the sidewalk quickly and Yuma goes darting after him. Kendall and James shrug to each other before joining the chase. They run through some decently heavy people traffic and it gets difficult to keep up with Fox. He's _so _tiny and he goes very fast, but he's nice enough to stop every so often and wait for them to catch up. James is afraid he might get stepped on but he seems to be agile enough to avoid all dangers. Then Fox takes them through a crosswalk and into a park. It's a place that the boys rarely check out but see often. Fox runs to a lamppost and waits. Yuma catches up to them and plops down beside him.

"Guys! Come on!" Yuma calls out.

"Yeah, yeah," Kendall groans. He jogs up to the lamppost and squats down beside them. James comes up then, too.

"So where are we going?" James asks.

"Close your eyes!" Fox says.

"We have to?" Kendall asks.

"Yee-esss," Yuma sings. "Just close your eyes."

Kendall and James exchange eye rolls then cover their faces with their palms. There is a lot of strange noise, similar to the sparkling noises Yuma made in the morning but with more rock-like sliding. James can't help but peep between his fingers.

Fox is blowing some sort of icy blue stream of stuff that James can only describe as "magic." It coats the bottom of the lamppost and he pulls some sort of door open.

"You can look now!" Fox says.

Kendall and James remove their hands and see a grotto beneath the lamppost. There is little light within in but Fox looks at them as if it's totally safe to traverse.

"Um, you guys first," James whispers.

"Okay, if you insist," Yuma says. The little animals go inside the hole and run out of sight. It's only barely wide enough for Kendall and James to squeeze through on their hands and knees. The concept is terrifying, but they seem to have no other choice. Kendall crawls in first and James follows. The entrance immediately opens up to a wide room, tall enough for the boys to stand up completely.

"What the heck?" Kendall asks in astonishment. He looks around the room and rubs his eyes, thinking perhaps it's just a hallucination. There is furniture for full-sized people; a wooden writing desk, a fluffy red reading chair and many crudely carved shelves filled with leather bound books. All of it looks rather ancient. "How did you make this?"

"With a little time," Fox says rather casually.

Yuma has already starting to look for whatever they need. She scales a step stool and pushes her snout around books on the shelves. "Damn, damn! Where is it?" she curses to herself.

"What're you looking for?" Fox asks.

"Don't you have a regeneration spell? For a map."

"Uhhh," James interrupts. He laughs sheepishly, squatting beside Fox and asks, "W-what exactly is going on here? It's really, really weird. You're definitely not a normal dog."

"Sorry," Fox says, looking up at James with a sort of smirk. "It's official business and I cannot divulge our secrets."

James looks dumbfounded and remains silent; meanwhile Yuma is still looking through the shelves like a maniac. Kendall puts his hands in his pockets and walks around the room a little bit. There are candles along the walls that glow an eerie blue, and when Kendall gets near them they actually feel _cold_. He looks at the writing desk. It's covered with scrolls that have all sorts of weird languages and characters on them. "What is—"

"Don't!" Fox and Yuma suddenly shout at the same time. "Stop prying, Kendall, please!" the pig whines. "Just understand there are some things in life better left unknown."

"Jeez, okay, okay," Kendall says. He steps back from the desk and returns to the animals.

Yuma seems to have found whatever she was looking for and is quite pleased. "Alright," she says, tossing a roll of parchment from the shelf onto the ground, where Fox snatches it up. "We'll be able to find my safe cave soon. Then we can recap the events up until now and figure out our next move."

"Right!" Fox says, muffled by the paper. "Faaammsshh, cann you taaaake shiiissh?"

"Sure," James nods and takes the scroll out of the dog's mouth.

"But don't open it!" Yuma shrieks. She descends the step stool and goes running to the tall boy's feet. "You can't open it!"

"Umm," James laughs. "O-okay. You want it?"

"Just hang onto it," Yuma says. "On the second thought, maybe you should give it to Kendall?"

"Whaaat? Come on! I am _so _responsible when it comes to things I'm not allowed to look at."

"Sure," Kendall says. He snatches the scroll from James's fist before he can answer and says, "Thanks!"

James whines but everyone just ignores him. It's time for them to leave, to the candles flick out and they crawl back onto the street. Kendall can't help but wonder what passersby must think about the bizarre spectacle; that is, if they can see it.

"So what next? How do we find this safe cave of yours?" Kendall asks Yuma.

"It's secret complex stuff," Yuma says. Her tiny feet carry her quickly across the sidewalk. "But it can all be worked out back in your room."

"Alright, then we'll go home," Kendall decides. James smiles in agreement and they presently head back.

But the moment they make it inside apartment 2J, Logan flags them down. "DUDE!" he shouts. His face is contorted in panic. "Where is that dog?"

"Um, right here," James says, displaying Fox from within his shirt like before.

"You gotta get rid of him!" Logan cries.

"What!? Why?!" James shrieks. Kendall flares up as well.

"Bitters is going around checking all the apartments. He says there's a dog somewhere and they're trying to _catch _it! I forgot about the no pet policy!"

"I know, I know, me too," Kendall gripes.

"This dog NEEDS up!" James screams.

"But if Bitters finds him here, we're gonna get the boot! Do you realize what Gustavo will do if we get kicked out!? Or worse! Mama Knight!?" Logan starts to hyperventilate, imagining what the two scariest people in their life would do to them as punishment. His hands come up to his chin and he shakes his head from side to side.

"Relax, Logan," Kendall says, trying to calm him down. "We can't get _rid _of the dog, but we'll hide him." The blond looks at James and smiles. "We'll hide him for a while until this cools down, okay?"

Logan bites his lip in worry, but Kendall pats him on the shoulder and does his best to reassure him.

"I-I guess," Logan mutters. "I can trust you, Kindall. Not sure about James though."

"Hey!" James squeals.

"I don't exactly blame him," Kendall adds, sticking the tip of his tongue out at the tall brunet. He takes James off to their room and locks the door behind them.

"Totally rude!" James shouts. Fox jumps from his arms, laughing to himself.

"What? It's true," Kendall says.

"You're a funny guy!" the dog says.

"Who? Me?" James asks.

"Both of you!"

"Whatever," James says, rolling his eyes. "But how are we gonna hide them?"

"Yuma?" Kendall calls out quietly. "Think you guys stay at the safe cave for a while?"

"Do I haaave to?" Fox mopes.

"Yes. Come on. Please?" the blond pleads.

"We promise to help you out," James adds. "If you can just do this for us."

"Well," Yuma sighs. "Okay. We can stay there. But we definitely need your help. And I'll need that scroll back."

Kendall brandishes the mysterious papyrus from his back pocket and puts it into Yuma's mouth. "You have our help," he says. "I promise."

Kendall and James return the animals to the safe cave in the park, then get back home and call it a day. With a triumphant look on his face, James stands before his vanity and combs out his hair.

"What are you so happy about?" Kendall sneers, putting on his pajamas.

"I always knew I was destined for something great," James says, swelling with pride.

"What do you mean? We dunno if this is so great."

"Yeah but think about it; out of all the people in LA…no! the country! NO! THE WORLD!" James gets a little overexcited now. "Fox picked me!"

"Maybe it's not such a good thing," Kendall mumbles. He walks over to the corner of the room with his arms folded.

"Then you shouldn't have promised her that we'd help," James says.

"Well..." Kendall sighs. He looks back at James for a second. "We'll just have to see how it works out. But don't get too excited about it, okay?"

"Why not?" James asks.

There are still fragments of ivy growing in the corner from Yuma's weird trick that morning. Ignoring James's question, Kendall squats down and puts some in his hand. Staring at it, James comes over to him and asks, "What's up with that?"

"I dunno. Yuma's an odd pig." Kendall twists a green leaf in his fingertips, leering at it suspiciously. "What do you think is up with them?"

James shrugs. "They're cool," he says quite plainly. "They're cool and they chose me. Um. Us, I guess."

"But all this weird magic…and the secrets. Like, why do you think they need _us _to help? It seems weird."

"I dunno," James shrugs again. "Just enjoy the fact that we were picked."

"I'm suspicious of them," Kendall admits. The ivy crinkles between his fingers and turns to chalky powder. "How come only you and I can hear them talking?"

"Stop overthinking, dude," James says. He stretches his big arms high above his head and lets a wild yawn go, which hurts Kendall's ears. "Now if you excuse me…" He dabs on a little extra moisturizer and jumps into his bed. With the covers up to his face, he closes his eyes and tries to sleep.

Kendall is still standing in the middle of the bedroom. It's strange to him how Fox and Yuma knew where to find James and himself. He wants to know how it happened and why they need _their _help. For a moment, he considers that it's a weird trap. What if the animals have an evil agenda? It's weird. It's too weird. He wants to get to the bottom of the secrets, and fast.


	4. Like a Daddy

Kendall wakes up feeling somewhat refreshed. He's still worried about what those strange animals are up to, but he has a different kind of understanding in the morning.

"Guaaaaah," James yawns real loud as he comes to. He stretches his arms way above his head and groans again.

"Too loud, too loud," Kendall complains.

"We should….yaaaah…we should bring food to the little guys."

"Yeah, you're right," Kendall agrees. He yawns a bit, too, and gets out of bed. James is staring at him.

"What do they eat?" the brunet asks.

"Yuma told me she eats anything, and I think she literally does. Dogs eat anything too, right?"

"I think so."

The boys shuffle off to the kitchen and start to fix a big plastic container with breakfast for their 'pets.'

"Lunchmeat," James says, tossing a wad of shaved turkey into the container, which Kendall is holding out to him. "Uhhhh, leftover chicken. Some grapes. A buncha spinach. That leftover enchilada. Raw egg. They like raw eggs, right?"

"She said anything," Kendall tells him. "They need the protein, anyway."

"Right," James agrees. He cracks an egg into the box and tosses the shells to the sink. "And maybe some barbeque sauce to make it taste better. And ketchup. How's that?"

They take the slop to the counter and start mashing it all up with forks. It looks pretty unpleasant. Just then, Mama Knight walks in with her bathrobe on, leering at the boys tiredly. "What are you making this early?" she asks.

"Uhhh, just something to eat," James says quickly. "'Cause we're really, really hungry."

"Right!" Kendall adds. "We're super hungry."

"It looks horrible," Mama Knight groans. She pours some water from the tap into a mug, bungs in a tea bad and sticks it in the microwave. "You boys can't cook."

"Well it might _look _horrible, but that's where you're wrong," James says, like an idiot as usual. He takes his fork and shovels some of the slimy, messy, sticky slop into his mouth. Grimacing, he fakes a smile and says, "See? It's…delicious!"

"Oooookay," Mama Knight says. She takes her tea from the microwave and heads back to her room. "Just don't make a mess."

"We won't!" Kendall and James say in unison, trying to sound chipper. Then James swallows and almost throws up.

"Okay okay, we gotta go!" Kendall says. He snaps a lid onto the container and they rush together to get out of the door. They hightail down to that little park and look around the lamppost for their animals.

"_Fox?_" James calls out.

"Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuma?" Kendall shouts.

The lamppost suddenly rattles and shakes, and slowly the ground opens up into the portal that was there yesterday. Fox sticks his head out.

"Hey buddy!" James says. The puppy looks sad. "What's wrong?"

"Yuma," Fox sighs. "She's unwell."

"What?!" Kendall yells. "What happened?"

"Come inside," Fox says.

The boys get on their hands and knees and go into Fox's safe cave. In the middle of the room, the little piglet is slumped over, shaking a little. Kendall runs up to her and sets his hand on her side. "What happened?!" he asks her.

"She isn't talking," says Fox.

"Why?" Kendall asks.

"I don't know. She's sick. There's something wrong with the ether."

"Ether?" Kendall and James both ask.

"Um, yeah," Fox says, looking odd. He shifts on his tiny paws. "Like, the invisible vibe in the air. The force that carries magical bidding."

"You lost me there," James says.

"Fox, how do we make her better?" Kendall asks, quite concerned. He pets the sleeping pig carefully.

"I don't know," Fox says sadly. He looks up at James and sees the container in his hands. "What's that?"

"Oh, we made you some food," James says.

"Food!? Really?! For me?!"

"Yeah!" James cracks off the lid and sets in the ground. Fox immediately runs to it and starts eating like he hasn't eaten in years.

"Mmm!" he says, chewing sloppily. "It's so good!"

"_Guys_," Kendall whispers now. "Can you be quiet? I don't want you to wake up Yuma."

"Sorry," Fox apologizes quietly. He keeps eating a bit less sloppy. James watches him and smiles.

"I need to take Yuma back home," Kendall says.

"What? But Bitters…" says James.

"I don't care," Kendall tells him. He carefully picks up the piglet and holds her in his arms. "Is there a blanket or anything in here?"

"Uhhh," Fox mutters, licking his chops. "There is a little one on that chair over there."

"That works," Kendall says. With a swift urgency, he pulls the small throw blanket from the fluffy chair and wraps it around Yuma. She snorts quietly but remains asleep. "I need to take better care of her. I promised. I won't let her down." He hides Yuma close to his chest and crawls out of the safe cave, leaving Fox and James still within.

"She gonna be okay?" James asks.

"I don't know," Fox admits weakly. "Thanks for the food, though."

"Aww, you're welcome. Hey, do you want to go for a walk?"

"A walk? I sure do! James, you're the best!"

"Here, try this." James takes a leash that he found _somewhere _and hooks it to Fox's tiny collar. Both practically grinning, they head out of the safe cave and go for a stroll around downtown LA.

"Oh, look at the cute doggy!" a little kid gasps as they pass.

"Thanks!" James says. Fox wags his tail and saunters down the sidewalk along his new, well, owner, it would seem.

"Aww, what a cute dog!" a young woman says.

"Well thank _you_," James says, winking.

"Can I pet him?"

"You sure can," James says. "You can pet him, you can pet me."

The woman stares at James oddly. "That's alright," she says, shaking her head. She doesn't pet Fox or anything and just walks away quickly.

"Why did you say that?" Fox calls up to James.

Trying not to look like he's totally insane, James mumbles out of the side of his mouth. "I was trying to flirt with her."

"Don't flirt like that! You're too straight forward. You'll never find love that way."

"Love? Who said anything about love?"

"That's what everyone wants," Fox says. James stops walking. He squats down and pulls Fox onto his knee.

"What do you mean?" he asks quietly.

"Everyone wants love. You'll never find it by telling strangers to pet you. You aren't a dog."

"I never said I wanted love."

"But you must, right? You're human."

"I dunno," James mumbles with a frown. "I don't think I'm ready for love. Besides, who would love me?"

* * *

Kendall knows there are old baby bottles somewhere. He looks through the kitchen cabinets with one hand, supporting Yuma with the other. Grabbing the attention from the rest of his roommates is really not an option now, so he does his best to be quiet. As he thought, those bottles that Mama Knight saved for whatever reason are tucked away behind some pie pans. He takes one and fills it with some milk from the fridge, then nukes it in the microwave for a few seconds. Some milk is spurted onto his hand to check the temperature, which is just warm enough, and he disappears into the bedroom.

Yuma is awake just barely now. She isn't talking, like Fox said, but she looks up at Kendall and silently acknowledges his care for her. He slowly sits on his bed and takes the bottle in his hand.

"You gotta eat something," he whispers, prodding the nipple to the piglet's mouth. (It's like Babe, right?) "Come on, sweetheart."

The pig snorts to herself a few times but then she takes the nipple and begins to drink the milk.

"There we go, Yuma. Good job." Kendall smiles and rocks her in his arms gently. She drinks and drinks, and soon her snouts starts to glow green like it had before. Her eyes close halfway in what could only be described as joy.

"What is this, Yuma?" Kendall asks, but she still doesn't speak. "Okay, no talking for now. But once you come back to normal, I want to know your secrets. Do we have a deal?"

Yuma snorts. She finishes the milk and the green glow dies down a little. Kendall cradles her and rocks her even more, asking is she feels better. The pig is quiet and nuzzles into his shoulder. "Oh Yuma," Kendall sighs. "You gotta get better."

He touches the top of Yuma's head and gently strokes her. _No_, he thinks to himself. _There's no evil agenda here. Just something magical. There is a plan and a history, but I think they're probably good. But they _do _need our help. Well, mine at least._

Yuma makes a tiny sound of happiness and the snout starts to glow once more. "Are you feeling better?" Kendall asks. The piglet doesn't respond. Her face feels warm, but in a good way. Kendall smiles and starts to hum, and then the humming turns into singing. "I don't know why you always get so insecure. I wish you could see what I see when you're looking in the mirror…"

The pig clearly listens to his singing and is lulled to sleep. Her breathing become slower and stronger. Kendall smiles and holds onto her, still singing. But he stops completely when the door opens. Luckily it's just James. Kendall puts his finger to his mouth, telling the brunet to be quiet.

"You look like a daddy," James whispers.

"What?"

"You look like a daddy."

"Yeah I heard you. What do you mean?"

"Holding her like a baby, singing her to sleep. It's like a daddy and she's your baby."

"I guess…"

James carefully sits beside Kendall on the bed and looks at the sleeping piglet. "She's real cute."

"I wonder about her though," Kendall whispers. "Where did she come from?"

"I dunno."

"Where's Fox?"

"Back at the safe cave. Says he has stuff to take care of."

"Alright," Kendall says. "Well, I'm going to keep Yuma with me here all night. I need to watch her carefully until she gets better."

"That's so sweet," James says with a smile. "You really are like a daddy."

"I'm not," Kendall protests quietly.

"Yeah well, one day."

"I guess."

"Why not?"

Kendall shrugs.

"You'd make a good one," James says quickly.

"I guess," Kendall says again. He looks over at James and smiles. "I'm gonna focus on these guys and what they need first."

"Sounds like a plan."


	5. Revealed

Kendall has Yuma sleep curled up next to him, just as he said. She sleeps well, and when morning comes, Kendall is woken up by a tired voice.

"K…Kendall?"

The blond opens his eyes slowly and sees the piglet looking back at him. "Yuma? Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Are you better?" Kendall reaches out and pets her on the head. She appears to smile.

"You took care of me," Yuma says softly.

"I did," Kendall nods.

"You fed me with a _bottle_."

"Is that okay?"

"It's fine," Yuma says. "It was actually…pretty sweet. Thank you." The pig's nose starts to glow green again.

"What is that?" Kendall asks.

"Oh! Nothing!" Yuma gasps and shudders, trying to make the glow disappeared. Kendall laughs but Yuma isn't entirely amused. "It's nothing!"

"Mmmm Yuma, are you going to tell me what's going on yet?"

"No, I can't," Yuma says. She gets up onto her feet and stretches out. "Don't worry about it. But today, we need to get to my safe cave."

"You know where it is now?"

"Yep!"

"Alright, well let's go see it."

Kendall picks up Yuma and gets out of bed. He doesn't bother disturbing James, but leaves him a sticky note on his cheek that says, "Out with Yuma. Plz feed Fox."

They head out to the bathroom so Kendall can quickly get washed up and dressed, and once he's ready, Yuma goes in the backpack again and they head out of apartment 2J. It's early enough that nobody else is really up, but when Kendall walks out of the elevator on the lobby level, he overhears Buddha Bob and Bitters talking down a hallway.

"Uhh, yeah," Buddha Bob says. "All the rooms I checked were clean. Noooo dogs, noooo pigs."

"Well _don't _stop looking," Bitters grumbles. "I know they're around here somewhere. Something funny's going on, and I'm going to find out."

"Whatever you say," Buddha Bob says and Kendall hears someone come down the hall towards him. He braces and holds the backpack against himself a bit tighter.

Hoping it's Buddha Bob, but unfortunately Bitters rounds the corner. He walks up to Kendall, leering suspiciously. "What are _you _doing up so early?"

"Just going for a walk, you know," Kendall says, trying to remain cool. "Kinda tired of hearing James blabber on and on. James. Right."

"Riiiiiight," Bitters says, looking him over. "What's in the backpack?"

"Thought maybe, I would go…grocery shopping. While I'm out. Yeah. And uh, I don't like to carry things in my hands unless I really have to, so I'd put them in the backpack."

"Riiiiiight," Bitters mumbles again. "I'm watching you, Knight."

"Great!" Kendall says, staring back. "Then I'll uh, see you later." They awkwardly look back to each other a few more times before Kendall hurries out of the front door. Once he's far enough away from the building, he takes Yuma from his backpack and puts her on the ground.

"What was that all about?" she asks.

"I told you. The management at my place is looking for you, and they want to destroy you. They think you're a pest."

"We don't have time for this silliness, Kendall!" Yuma says, trudging forward.

"I know. I'm doing my best."

The go down the sidewalk and Yuma takes Kendall back to the ally that he originally found her.

"Here?" Kendall asks, looking down the narrow, crummy passageway.

"Yeah!" Yuma cheers. "I totally forgot, but it's down here. Come on, follow me." The tiny pink pig runs off down the ally and Kendall nervously follows. It grows quite dark. They take it all the way to the end, and then Yuma says, "cover your eyes!"

"Again? Do I have to?"

"Please."

"Okay, okay." Kendall claps his palms over his face and closes his eyes tightly. He hears the sparkling, shifting noise again, and then something like a door opening up.

"Ready," Yuma announces.

The boy looks and sees there is actually a _door _there, full sized for a person and everything. "This is it?" Kendall asks.

Yuma nods. "Open it please."

Kendall turns the nob and pulls it open. It looks dark at first, but once they step inside, this whole big room is illuminated with a soft, green hue. Kendall thinks the glowing seems familiar, and he suddenly realizes that it's the same tone as when Yuma's snout radiates happiness.

"Nice place," Kendall says, looking around. It's far bigger than Fox's safe cave, and much different, but the furniture is still clearly for humans. The walls have ivy climbing up on them, and there is a lot of green and brown furniture. There are bookshelves, desks, chests, and even what appears to be a dining table. "So who is it really for?"

"Me," Yuma says. The pig is dwarfed so much by the room that she's almost impossible to see. She acts very reasonable and springs up onto a stool, then a chair, and finally upon the top of a desk. Kendall walks over to her and sees something that makes him shout.

"HEY!" he yells. "That's my driver's license! How did you get that?!"

"I don't know," Yuma says. Kendall takes the piece of plastic and looks it over.

"What the hell happened to it? It's beat to shit."

"Sorry."

"Yuma, come on," Kendall says, his tone dropping to a soft coax. "Can't you tell me what's going on here?"

"Well," the pig takes in a deep breath and lets it out. "I thought it would be best to never tell you, but, maybe you're right. You see, Fox and I are actually…"

Before she can continue, the room is suddenly shook up. The ground rattles like an earthquake and Yuma shouts, "Oh no! No no no!"

"What's going on!?" Kendall yells.

"We have to move! No! This is bad, very bad!"

"Where are we going?!"

"Follow me!" Yuma springs off of the desk and to the floor, where she scampers through the shaking and over to a bookshelf. The room is being rocked back and forth and Kendall isn't even sure what to hold onto. He does his best to grab a chair, but everything is shaking so it's mostly useless. He's terrified that the whole room will suddenly collapse.

The pig diligently works her snout around in a strange circle, creating a loop of sparkling leaves. They twist up into the air and fly against the wall. Even though the situation is quite scary, Kendall watches the pig doing her strange spell and is mystified.

Then another passageway appears. It slowly rises from the floor, leaving the shape of an open door in the back of the room. Yuma immediately starts to run down it. "Follow me!" she calls out. Kendall grimaces and runs after the pig.

Though the shaking is still going on, it seems to be a little less now. The doorway leads down a long, narrow tunnel which is illuminated by hundreds of green glowing candles. The floor twinkles. It's actually quite beautiful.

"What's going on?!" Kendall calls out to the pig, who is decently far ahead of him. She doesn't answer. "Is everything okay?!"

"No!" Yuma yells.

The tunnel goes downhill, uphill, makes a few bends and then stops at another doorway. It's closed, but Yuma does another sparkly spell and it opens up, grinding and groaning as it comes to the ceiling.

"Come on then, come on!" Yuma says to Kendall.

"Where are you taking me?" Kendall asks.

"No time."

They walk through the threshold and are suddenly in a huge, huge room. There's a big, sparkling water basin in the center, filled with purple twinkles that shimmer and glisten as Kendall moves closer. It's all still underground, but the water causes so much light that the room is quite bright. Around the sides of the pool are a few wooden chairs. Kendall hasn't even realized that the tremors are gone.

"Okay, what the hell is going on, and how is this under LA?" Kendall asks, a little bit grumpy.

Panting, Yuma stops and looks up at him to the best of her ability. "We aren't really under LA."

"Huh?"

"The doorways to our safe caves," Yuma continues. "They're doorways to another dimension."

"Whaaaa?"

"Yeah," Yuma says, panting. She trots again, around the water. "We need to keep going."

"But this room is so cool," he says.

"Sorry, maybe another time. We need to get to the observation cave."

"Oh, uh, okay." Kendall follows the pig around the perimeter of the sparkling purple pool and to another door. There are many in this room, he realizes once they get to the far end of it. She casts a spell and one of the doors opens, then she disappears inside. Kendall follows, sighing. He looks over his shoulder at the purple water and imagines what it could be like to swim in it.

Yuma leads Kendall up a tall, marble staircase, still enclosed by the darkness of the underground. It goes up a long ways and Kendall gets dizzy, circling and circling the center of the spiral. Finally they get up to the top and it looks like they aren't even underground anymore. There is a tiny room up there, which a bunch of books and worktables that are scattered with papers and quills. Along the sides of the room are windows which let a lot of light inside. Kendall walks up to one and looks outside. It's foggy, and all he can really make out is something that looks like a vast, peaceful ocean. "Where the heck are we?" he asks.

"Dimensional Pocket #294," Yuma says. She climbs to a desk and starts shoveling papers around with her nose. "Shit."

"How do you know curse words?" Kendall asks, laughing.

"I've developed a full range of Human English vocabulary. Haven't you noticed?"

"Yeah, okay. Fair enough. So what was all that shaking?"

"It's bad," Yuma says. "Very, very bad. We're close to fulfilling our mission, but apparently someone else has figured it out." The pig sighs.

There are voices coming up the stairs behind them and Kendall freaks out. He looks back with his eyes wide open, gasping quietly, but as the voices grow closer he recognizes them at once and James and Fox.

"Ohh," Kendall sighs, once his friends steps into the room.

"Hey!" Fox cheers from James's arms. "Figured you'd be here. Did you feel the Throy-mul just then?"

"The _what_?!" Kendall and James ask in unison.

"Nothing," Yuma says. She leers at Fox. "Yes, I did. That's why I'm here. I'm not even sure how to stop it."

"Oh dear," Fox sighs. He jumps from James's arms and climbs up on the desk where Yuma is. They start sorting to papers together.

"Sup James," Kendall says to his friend tiredly.

"Hey," James sighs. "This is getting really, really weird, right?"

"I've been trying to tell you…"

Yuma suddenly stops and looks over at the boys. She seems sad.

"What's wrong, Yuma?" Kendall asks.

"You're right," the pig says. Fox stops moving, too. He sits down next to the pig and whimpers. "We should tell you, shouldn't we?"

"Pleeeease?" James begs. "You two are so cool, and all of this stuff is so cool! Why are we special?"

"What are we helping you with?" Kendall asks.

"Alright," Yuma says with another sigh. She closes her eyes. "You see, Fox and I are royalty from a long time ago. A long, _long _time ago. So far away in time that your age of history doesn't even know we existed."

"Whaat?" Kendall gasps.

"Royalty?" James asks.

"I'm the princess of Earth," Yuma says wearily.

"And I'm the prince of Ice!" Fox cheers. He puffs a tiny pocket of cold air out of his mouth.

"Their princesses and princes are baby animals?" James asks. "That's weird."

"No, no," Yuma explains. "We're under a spell right now. See, there was this evil being back in our time called the Throy-mul. It's power grew so large and consuming that it was going to destroy everything we knew. It seemed impossible to beat, but…I was doing research in my study, looking into very old documents, and the only thing I found about the Throy-mul was that _opposite bonds _must be made to save the world."

"So that's how we got together," Fox interrupts. "Earth and Ice. We don't go together very well. But Yuma sent and invitation to me, and I went immediately. It was difficult at first, but we realized that we aren't so different in the end."

"Right. Then we made a pact and wrote a spell together. We worked and worked as the Throy-mul grew and grew. It took almost a _your time _year for it to be ready, but it finally was."

"It was amazing! We were amazing," Fox says, smiling at Yuma.

"So what was the spell?" Kendall asks quietly.

"A huge spell," Yuma says. "Bigger than any we had done before. We combined our spirits and locked a safety net around the entire world. But, we don't really know if it worked."

"Why not?" Kendall asks.

"The only way for the spell to work," the pig continues. "Was that we were sent way far into the future. It also unfortunately changed us into animals. There are a lot of strange things about it, that's for sure. So now we're just trying to get home."

"That's so sad," James says. "You just want to get home? Then why did you pick us?"

"As we came into the future," Yuma explains. "We received two items. One was your driver's license, Kendall."

"Yeah and the other was a portrait of James!" Fox says.

"A portrait? You have one of my portraits?!"

"Yep," the dog nods.

"That's how we found you," Yuma says. "We knew you were the ones to help us, because those items came to us."

"Wow," Kendall says, staring at the animals. "That's amazing. It's almost hard to believe. But wait…Fox said something about Throy-mul earlier. Was that rumbling…"

"I guess the spell has worn off or so, and it's found us in the future," Yuma says.

"What?! That's not good. Is the planet okay?!" Kendall shrieks.

"It's fine, it's fine. We just have to work harder." The pig gets up again and starts going through papers once more.

"Wait, Yuma," Kendall says.

"Hm?"

"How do you go home? Do you even know?"

"Kind of," Yuma says. "I have an idea."


End file.
